Chapter 96
With Water-Walk active, Haruto’s travel speed increased dramatically, allowing him to capture even more monsters along the way.
The convenience of the spell only strengthened his interest in learning magic.
Once hunger began to set in, Haruto found a building protruding above the lake and decided to stop there for lunch.
The moment he entered, however, he discovered a passage leading downward.
Dense masses of Tentacles covered the entire corridor, writhing together so thickly that hardly any space remained between them.
That immediately caught Haruto’s interest.
The Ivy Tentacle he had collected earlier had tasted quite good.
He expanded En, intending to check whether any more were growing inside.
To his surprise, he found no Ivy Tentacles.
Instead, he detected a Giant Frog.
Giant Frogs were excellent ingredients too, so there was no reason to pass one up.
Although the creature had already noticed him, it made no attempt to attack.
It remained hidden among the Tentacles, making it difficult to reach safely.
After recalling the Giant Frog’s habits, Haruto quickly came up with an idea.
He drew his longsword and swung it several times through the surrounding Tentacles before raising the blade.
A long tongue shot from the darkness and wrapped tightly around the sword.
The Giant Frog tried to pull it away.
Unfortunately for the frog, it had badly misjudged Haruto’s strength.
The sword did not move an inch.
Haruto gave a powerful tug instead, dragging the Giant Frog straight toward him.
He thrust the blade through its head the moment it came within reach.
Haruto looked into the dark passage with growing interest.
If one Giant Frog lived here, there were probably more farther inside.
Unfortunately, the corridor was so densely overgrown with Tentacles that capturing them would be difficult.
After a moment of thought, Haruto’s gaze settled on the dead frog.
He hesitated briefly before making up his mind.
Compared with obtaining valuable ingredients, a little temporary discomfort was tolerable.
Haruto carefully peeled away the Giant Frog’s hide in one complete piece.
He scraped off every trace of flesh clinging to the inside, washed it thoroughly, and spread it out nearby to dry.
He then turned his attention to the meat.
The snowy-white frog flesh looked appetizing even before cooking.
Haruto chopped it into evenly sized pieces, seasoned them with pepper, and poured ginger juice over them to marinate.
While the meat absorbed the seasoning, he peeled several Mandrakes, cut them into chunks, and blanched them in boiling water before setting them aside.
Haruto heated oil in a pan and added the marinated frog meat, stir-frying it rapidly until the pieces were just cooked through and lightly browned on the surface.
After removing the meat, he left a little oil in the pan and fried scallion, ginger, and garlic until fragrant.
He then added salt, sugar, broad bean chili paste, and dried chilies, cooking them until bright-red oil emerged and an enticing aroma filled the air.
Haruto returned the frog meat to the pan, tossed it briefly through the sauce, then added the blanched Mandrake pieces and continued stir-frying.
Just before serving, he scattered in chopped scallions and drizzled sesame oil over everything, giving the pan two final tosses.
The Dry-Pot Giant Frog was complete!
Haruto picked up a piece of frog meat and placed it into his mouth.
Savory heat burst across his tongue.
The meat was delicate yet springy, its natural freshness lingering pleasantly in his mouth, while the Mandrake added a faint sweetness to the finish.
By the time Haruto had emptied the entire pan, the Giant Frog hide had dried sufficiently.
He gathered some ashes left from the fire and repeatedly rubbed them across the inner surface of the skin.
Once every part had been treated evenly, he cleaned away the remaining ash and carefully stitched the cuts closed.
A crude Giant Frog suit was complete.
The workmanship was far from perfect, but it would serve well enough for temporary use.
Haruto put it on and cautiously touched one of the Tentacles.
As expected, its venomous stingers did not attack him.
Protected by the frog suit, Haruto could move freely through the passage.
Before long, he encountered a second Giant Frog, followed by a third...
Naturally, every one of them ended up inside Gourmet Restaurant.
When Haruto finally passed through the Tentacle-filled corridor, the space ahead opened dramatically.
A broad street stretched before him, with distant buildings barely visible in the darkness.
A suspicion formed in Haruto’s mind.
He gathered Nen beneath his feet and launched himself upward with a powerful leap, shooting more than twenty meters into the air.
From that height, an enormous town spread out before his eyes.
After landing, Haruto could not help muttering, "I somehow stumbled straight onto the fifth floor."
According to the map he had purchased, the official route to the fifth floor was still a considerable distance away.
He had unexpectedly found a shortcut.
Haruto had not planned to descend this early, but now that he was here, he had no intention of returning to the fourth floor.
He removed the Giant Frog suit and began exploring the surrounding area.
The dungeon’s fifth floor contained the town surrounding the Golden Castle.
From the surviving layout and intricate decorative carvings, it was easy to imagine how prosperous and lively the settlement had once been before sinking into the dungeon.
Now, only silent ruins remained.
Haruto also noticed many architectural details that felt distinctly wrong.
Streets had been forcibly stretched and twisted, while buildings had been crudely joined together at awkward angles.
It was obvious that Thistle, despite possessing enough power to sink an entire town into the dungeon, had very little talent for architecture.
Although the town appeared empty, it was strangely lively in its own way.
Blurry figures frequently moved at the edge of Haruto’s vision, while faint whispers drifted past his ears.
They were not illusions.
After Thistle pulled the Golden Castle and its surrounding town into the dungeon, he cast a spell that imprisoned every resident’s soul within the labyrinth, preventing them from ever finding rest.
Some had gone mad over the long years and become wandering Ghosts that attacked passing adventurers.
Others retained their sanity.
Though they were Ghosts as well, they did not harm people and sometimes even tried to assist adventurers.
Of course, having a ghost suddenly offer help usually terrified the recipient more than anything else.
Haruto followed the street until he reached what appeared to have once been a park.
A powerful, unfamiliar fragrance suddenly entered his nose.
He followed the scent, only to pause at the sight before him.
Two reasonably attractive "young women" were wrapped in each other’s arms, behaving with a degree of intimacy that left little to the imagination.
The sound of Haruto’s approach disturbed them.
Both "women" turned toward him, their expressions twisting viciously before they charged straight at him.
As they moved, Haruto saw a thin vine extending from the top of each one’s head.
He immediately recognized what they were.
Dryad flowers.
The Dryads of the fifth floor were entirely different from the mobile Dryads he had encountered on the third.
Their main bodies could not move, but they could produce humanoid flowers capable of attacking intruders independently, making them an unusually strange species.
Haruto reacted instantly as the two flowers rushed him.
His figure blurred, and his longsword swept through the air in two cold flashes, severing the vines connected to their heads.
The moment those connections were cut, both flower women lost all strength and collapsed.
As they struck the ground, however, clouds of pale-yellow pollen exploded from their bodies.
Haruto hurriedly retreated.
Inhaling that pollen could trigger an extremely severe allergic reaction, and he had no desire to spend the day sneezing with his nose running uncontrollably.
Only after the pollen had completely settled did he approach.
Without its flower guardians, the Dryad had lost any ability to resist.
After inspecting it briefly, Haruto first harvested its fruit.
The fruits resembled pumpkins, except each one had a differently shaped human face growing across its surface.
They looked unsettling, but they were apparently excellent ingredients.
Haruto then picked every unopened flower bud from the branches. Those buds were also valuable for cooking.
After storing the fruits and buds, he turned to leave.
A thought suddenly occurred to him.
Haruto returned to the two severed flowers and carefully collected the pollen still remaining inside their bodies, sealing it within a glass bottle.